Her Lovely Hair

Grady McMurtry

12 January 1962

I walked the dog in the woods today

And he consecrated the trees

We watched the bounding squirrels at play,

Crunched the snow in the rustling lees,

And echoed his joyous, belling bay

Down the hollow eternities.

Existential monad swaying

Star imago, molten attire

Lepidoptera unfolding

Metamorphosis, Angel fire

I walked the woods of the world today

The wood of the Ruined Towers

Where night-side trees in their Panic sway

To a lyre of lethal powers

I saw my skull in the disarray

Of Her gorgon-serpent flowers

Diana Archer, Maid of Light

Slayer of the Dragon-Tree

Thy Beauty’s Beast, Thy Serpent Priest

Burst my head, and set me free

Her Arrow coursed the bright sea sands

And found me in my lair:

The universe came apart in my hands

And I pray-said Her lovely hair.

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